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pinnerbaits? I know you got ‘em, I saw them in your boat,
or heard them rattling in your tackle bag. Heck, I just put
away four lake-specific boxes to match up with the waters
I usually fish. And yet, here in the West (as was revealed a few seasons back with Bassmaster tournament surveys) we have
more choices than ever—yet, it sure seems we don’t fish them as
much.
With the sudden passing of former Bass Classic winner,
Ken Cook, many tributes and memorials surfaced, among them
published interviews from his successful career. But one struck me
in particular, where he revealed he had caught 80 percent of his bass
on spinnerbaits through his heyday during the 1980’s even before his
Classic win.
You sure couldn’t say that is the case in the West. If you talked
to any of the successful California bass catchers from San Diego
to Los Angeles during the same period those percentages would
have leaned almost as heavily toward a plastic worm. And while jig
fishermen would have got a big chunk of the catches the farther north
(or eastward) you traveled, spinnerbaits and most other reaction baits
would have been well down the list.
Was this a reflection of types of reservoirs or waterways available
to fish, or perhaps the water clarity found in the Golden State, the
fishing pressure here, or have there been other issues at work?
Is it a lack of cover that slowed spinnerbait use. In theory, maybe.
SPRING 2016
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